25 people killed in Friday's al-Shabab attack of Somali hotel

Smoke and steam from fires extinguished with water, clouds the scene of a twin bombing attack on a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Friday, Feb. 20, 2015. One person rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the gate of the Central Hotel in Somalia's capital, and another went through the gates and blew himself up, killing at least four people on Friday including the deputy mayor and a legislator, officials said, while the country's deputy prime minister was also among those wounded by the bombings. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) (The Associated Press)

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CORRECTS THAT VICTIM WAS ALIVE AT TIME PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN - Somali rescuers carry away a severely injured civilian from the scene of a twin bombing attack on a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday, Feb. 20, 2015. The victim later died. One person rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the gate of the Central Hotel in Somalia's capital, and another went through the gates and blew himself up, killing at least four people on Friday including the deputy mayor and a legislator, officials said, while the country's deputy prime minister was also among those wounded by the bombings. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) (The Associated Press)

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Somali media film near a destroyed vehicle outside the scene of a twin bombing attack on a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Friday, Feb. 20, 2015. One person rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the gate of the Central Hotel in Somalia's capital, and another went through the gates and blew himself up, killing at least four people on Friday including the deputy mayor and a legislator, officials said, while the country's deputy prime minister was also among those wounded by the bombings. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) (The Associated Press)

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The Somali government says the death toll from a suicide attack at a hotel in the Somali capital on Friday has risen to 25, and 40 wounded.

A statement from Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke's office on Saturday said an Islamic extremist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the gate of the Central Hotel, and another went in and blew himself up.

Government officials were meeting at the hotel at the time, and the statement says Mogadishu's deputy mayor and two legislators were among the dead. It was unclear whether the 25 dead included the two bombers.

Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants claimed the responsibility for the attack. Despite the loss of key strongholds in Somalia, al-Shabab continue to stage attacks in the capital and elsewhere.